Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1887-05-10
At the Baptist Church.

The announcement in Sunday
mornings JOURNAL that the Rev.
Downey would preach on Sunday
evening on "Some suggestions made
by the case Of the Territory vs. Ma
son. drew quite an assemblage to the
Baptist church on Sunday evening.
Mr.. Downey took tor his text the first
four verses of the fourth chapter Of
Hosea, reading rs follows:
Hear the word Of the Lord We chill
dren of Israel, for the Lord hath con-
trOversy with the inhabitants of the
land, because there is no truth, nor
mercy. nor knowledge Of God in the
lsnd.
by swearing and lying aud killing
and stealing and committing adultery
they break out, and blood toucheth
blood.
Therefore shall the land mourn
and everyone that dweiletb therein
shall lsDguish, with the beasts Of the
field and with the fowls Of heaven;
yea, the fishes Of the SEA also shall be
taken away.
"Yet let no man strive nor reprove
another; for the people are as they
that strive with the priest"
Notwithstanding the an nouuc
and the references Of the text, the
elaboration aud application Of IL was
merely general, and not related to the
Mason case save IN the assumed con-
ditIon Of society that led to the results
which occssioned the trial. From the
fact that the reverend gentleman WAS
one Of the jury that sat on the case, it
sas naturally expected that the SER
mon would have more local COM
! plexion and give some insight into the
conditions Of the case vi, wed 10y him
a. jurymsn. Whether or not this
expectation WAS proiusely entertained
/ il u ,vertheless is true that IL was en-
tertained, and the sermon in this r..
spect was unsatisfactory. While IL
l. no doubt true that there exists
a lamentable lack of accounta-
bility to God las Mr.. Downey put it,
for our actions, leading TO the commits
sion Of crimes aud denominations in
His sight, we feel that an emphasized
local application Of this truism is un-
fair to this community, and most par
ticularly do we deny the assertion
made by him that 1t is unsafe for fe-
male 10 traverse our streets after night
fall without danger Of assault. IL 10
more than possible that the reverend
gentleman II not 30 well Informed on
this point rs others whose duties
make them familiar with the condi-
tions under consideration, but we have
no hesitaIcy in asserting that there 10
In nfnitely less danger Of assault or in
suit to an unprotected female ON the
streets OF Miles City at night than In
any Of the large cities Of the land or in
the towns or villages OF older estab-
lished communities. There 10 chiv-
airy In the west that has died out in
the east, and It's existence should be
recognized and not lightly impugned.
That too speedy resort to firearms,
for the settlement Of trivial disputes,
is no doubt true, but II does not appear
TO be in greater practice here than
elsewhere. Here, as elsewhere, Il
comes under the cognizance of the
law, and when sdjudged to be criminal
is rs speedily punished. We are not
without an appreciation Of the SINGER
ity aud earnestness Of Mr.. Downey o.
eyinced by his work, but think his
Sunday evening discourse could have
been made more local In some respects
and less local In Others without mar
ring It's excellence.